WARSAW — The resounding triumph of Law and Justice party in elections last year left the other mainstream parties in Poland reeling, opening the door for a charismatic but untested economist to lead the opposition to the right-wing government’s controversial policies in its first months in power.

Ryszard Petru, a boyish 43 with a trim buzzcut, a sharp suit and a wide grin, is all over radio, TV and newspapers. He’s helping organize street protests and fighting a rearguard action in the parliament against Law and Justice, which has an absolute majority in the Polish Sejm.

His febrile activity helped his newly created Modern party soar to second place in opinion polls, displacing and discomfiting the Civic Platform, a center-right party that ruled Poland since 2007 and lost first the presidential and then parliamentary elections last year.

“I turn to you as the leader of the parliamentary opposition,” Petru said in a presidential-style TV spot that had him standing in front of Polish and EU flags, an audacious statement for a man whose party has 29 seats in parliament compared to Civic Platform’s 138.

Party founder

That sort of chutzpah is par for the course with Petru, a well-regarded economist who decided to form his own party after the unexpected defeat of Bronisław Komorowski in May’s presidential election, an outcome that left the Civic Platform in shock.

“No risk, no fun,” he said from his spartan office in Poland’s parliament building. The main decoration is a flat-screen television showing a parliamentary debate where Law and Justice MPs are passing yet another piece of legislation in the face of ineffectual opposition protests.

Petru soured on Civic Platform over its timid approach to market-friendly reform. He was particularly dismayed when the previous government gutted a pension reform in 2013 to bolster public finances.

That caution was born of a strategy that Donald Tusk, a former prime minister who is now president of the European Council, referred to as the politics of “warm water in the tap” — the idea that Poles would be happy with a competent but uninspiring government.

They weren’t.

Dissatisfied with Civic Platform and dismayed by a series of embarrassing scandals, some center-right voters abandoned the party for Law and Justice (PiS). Other core Civic Platform voters moved to Petru, captivated by his energy.

The contrast between Civic Platform and Modern came into sharp relief after the elections. Accustomed to holding power, Civic Platform didn’t seem to know how to react to being in opposition. The party descended into feuding over a new leader, and in one disastrous PR effort marched out of parliament during a debate on the Constitutional Tribunal, leaving Modern MPs alone in the chamber to argue that PiS was undermining democratic standards by proposing to change the makeup of the country’s highest constitutional court.

“If Civic Platform doesn’t quickly get a grip, the defeat could in future turn into a catastrophe” — Donald Tusk

Grzegorz Schetyna, a former foreign minister who is Civic Platform’s new leader, admits walking out of parliament “was a fatal mistake.”

Civic Platform is trying to recover. A recording from a recent party meeting obtained by reporters had Schetyna promising to bring a million people onto the streets to oppose Law and Justice.

“If this tempo of conflict continues, our activity will certainly be based on the street,” he said. “We’ll bring a million people from the country if needed. We have to be ready for anything, even for hard alternatives.”

Tusk has voiced his concerns. “If [Civic Platform] doesn’t quickly get a grip, the defeat could in future turn into a catastrophe,” Tusk said in a recent interview with the Polityka weekly.

Tusk founded Civic Platform in 2001 as a breakaway from the Freedom Union, a centrist party that had governed from 1997 to 2001. Freedom Union disappeared as a political force, its energy drained by Civic Platform. Petru now has a chance of repeating the same trick.

Because the opposition, even if united, has too few votes in parliament to stop PiS, Petru is trying to galvanize the country’s middle classes to oppose Law and Justice’s rush to take over the country’s most important institutions.

A radical government

As well as adopting a new statute on the Constitutional Tribunal, the government has passed laws to take fuller control of public media, secret services and many state-owned companies. It is working on legislation to give the police more power to snoop on citizens.

“My goal is to bring about early elections. It’ll come about through the internal collapse of PiS” — Ryszard Petru

“I have the impression of chaos,” said Petru. He added that he is often blindsided by legislation announced with no warning and rammed through parliament just days after being introduced.

“These changes are mainly aimed at increasing their power. It’s the same thing other governments have done but much faster and with no gloves on,” Petru said.

Petru is now a target of both Civic Platform, which sees him as a dangerous rival — “Everybody is astonished. Freshness. A fantastic politician,” a sarcastic Schetyna grumbled about Petru in the recording — and of Jarosław Kaczyński, the Law and Justice leader who worries about Petru’s ability to mobilize government opponents.

“I’m enemy number one,” said Petru, his words rushing past each other as he explained his party’s centrist program and his strategy for ending the PiS government before racing off to another meeting.

“My goal is to bring about early elections. It’ll come about through the internal collapse of PiS. Jarosław Kaczyński is steering the prime minister and the president from the back seat — that’s unsustainable over the long term.”

Kaczyński is considered Poland’s most powerful politician, eclipsing both Beata Szydło, the prime minister, and President Andrzej Duda.

Early elections?

The only practical way for the opposition to force out PiS is if PiS decided itself to call early elections. It did so almost a decade ago, the last time it was in power. Kaczyński, then prime minister, called a snap election, which put PiS in the political desert for the next eight years.

“I have no doubt that PiS learned the lesson from 2005-2007, and there will be no early elections,” said Tusk, who led his party to victory in 2007.

PiS’s first period in power was so controversial that it ended up uniting the country’s centrist voters. There are signs that the same is starting to happen this time. Polls show that Law and Justice has lost many of the centrist voters who backed it in October’s parliamentary elections. Modern and Civic Platform combined have the support of more than 40 percent of the electorate, while PiS has 32 percent.

If it is to have any hope of success against PiS in 2019, Poland’s centrist opposition parties will have to stop fighting among themselves and unite.

But the opposition is going to have to brace itself for a long campaign against Law and Justice, said Norbert Maliszewski, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw.

If it is to have any hope of success against PiS in 2019, Poland’s centrist opposition parties will have to stop fighting among themselves and unite. And Petru is the most logical leader, said Maliszewski.

“Civic Platform has the money and organization, but the charisma and freshness is with Petru,” he said. “Joining means electoral victory — not doing so leaves PiS a chance.”

Related stories on these topics:

Agnieszka

Again, you are failing to describe full context of Mr. Petru activity and background, especially his infamous role in Polish CHF loans crisis.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 11:14 AM CET

Veritas-Semper

“Fantastic”? Only by ultra-liberal, fair-headed boy, standards.

One way to predict the future is by successes so far. Since the October election: Zero (0) legislative initiatives and 128+ (and counting) initiative for legislative recess… Too tiring to work beyond the 9 to 5 schedule… very bright future, indeed!

Posted on 1/8/16 | 12:07 PM CET

Bolo

I will vote for Petru for sure.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 12:22 PM CET

Maciej

Petru was weak economist, he always claimed mistaken predictions.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 12:30 PM CET

Veritas-Semper bis

Politico, great switch in authorship and title. Simply “Fantastic”!

Mr. ‘telegenic economist’ is all that… and not much more. He is very used to working “banker’s hours”. For the first 2 months in Parliament his party presented zero (0) legislative initiatives and 128+ (but why bother counting) initiatives for legislative recess. Too much hard work, I guess…

Posted on 1/8/16 | 1:01 PM CET

Instruktor

Petru believes that doing business as usual should be the key priority for Poland. Kaczynski believes that cleaning up the state from the remnants of old communist establishment and associated nepotism and restoring transparency to Polish government and economy are the badly needed (and way overdue) initial steps, needed for long term success of Poland.
I think that he does have a point…

Posted on 1/8/16 | 1:08 PM CET

PPPOlish guuy

Another Soros cronie..

Posted on 1/8/16 | 2:00 PM CET

Swetru

LMFAO while ROTFL

Posted on 1/8/16 | 2:43 PM CET

Marcin

Petru is an lobbyst and a bankster. I’m from warsaw and I don’t trust him a bit after he played people into taking very bad loans.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 3:08 PM CET

canth

Jan Cienski you traitor.

If any foreigner is reading this – dont believe that, Petru is puppet of previous polish government and medias in poland are forcing polish citizens to bring them back the power.
I hope those people will never rule over Poland again.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 4:22 PM CET

Amusing

Yeah, delete comments, liars.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 4:22 PM CET

Sean

If the mainstream media hates you, you’re doing something right. If they’re calling you radicals, you’re doing something right. If George Soros has to fund your opposition, you are stronger than your opponents. These left wingers wish to destroy Poland and all of Europe and western civilization. The only stronghold right now is Hungary and Poland.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 5:39 PM CET

I_write_how_it_is

Again and again all the time you present only a liberal, leftist point of view on the current situation in Poland.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 9:23 PM CET

Kubanek

Do not show the face of this motherf…, please, Have mercy, I am begging you.
Petru is a Hitler of liberalism.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 10:08 PM CET

Jay

This article sounds like a promotion piece for Mr. Petru. The man is nothing more then a bankster who schemed to gain the system.

Posted on 1/8/16 | 11:43 PM CET

Andre

I really love all those comments posted by PiS trolls. Honestly though, do you all really believe all that you post? Petru and his “Nowoczesna” party is probably one of the top two powers right now (but not as powerfull as KOD) capable of ending the nightmare that most of polish citizens are enduring right now. Kaczynski and his cronies are running mad, pushing bills through parliament in the middle of the night because they know that citizens can endure only so much before they revolt. When dust settles he’s gonna take the reins and lead country out of this nightmare. Mark my words!

Posted on 1/8/16 | 11:51 PM CET

olgierd

Petru is the chance for Poland. However he needs to take over ASAP, before kaczynski destroys all the goodwill the country gained over the last two decades. I see early elections as a must. The sooner the better. Otherwise the future of PL in the EU is in jeopardy. On the other side KOD is a civic movement that protests against PiS hijacking the democracy. KOD was able to get tens of thousands on the streets. This Saturday will be another show of KOD followers on the streets. KOD is creating efficient national structures across the country as we speak. If all feels like Solidarity in 1980 … all agains the dictatorial PiS …

Posted on 1/9/16 | 12:03 AM CET

Jay

@Andre, why do you accuse commentators who point out Petru’s banking past as trolls? Perhaps you should consider the thought that this entire article is a piece of propaganda. This guy came out of the blue and just like that started a new political party. But, you want every Pole to just trust him?

Posted on 1/9/16 | 12:17 AM CET

erozbi

@Veritas-Semper – I am no great fan of Petru, but PiS have been such busy bees in the parliament and senate dismantling constitutional democracy that no other initiatives could stand a chance of being heard. If I am not mistaken, the Nowoczesna party (as well as the other opposition parties) have stood and tried to give their voice at “all night” sessions in both chambers in recent weeks (until 4:00 am on Christmas Eve).

Posted on 1/9/16 | 12:20 AM CET

pospol

The anti-government KOD movement that Petru supports is propped up by the Batory Foundation, a Soros non-governmental organization in Poland, and that’s no secret to anyone.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 12:40 AM CET

Pawel

He is fake opposition with team from Civic Platform and unknown source of financing. His party has no program, no plans and didnt make any proposals of changes, Just lots of noise. Schetyna is not His oponent but they are from same team.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 12:44 AM CET

Nicomo

If I could vote in this country I would definitely vote for this man. I wish he had formed his party sooner rather than later.

Two young fresh faces have emerged in Polish politics in the past few months – one is the puppet president(Duda) fresh out of a village who says nothing but does whatever he is told to do by the ruling right, the other is this man (Petru) a succesfull economist, standing up against an army of PiS loyalists and after observing the sweeping wave of ultra conservatives who seemed to have generated thousands of fake facebook profiles(akin to Milicja Obywatelska – Secret Police) and who’s only determination is to attack the civil liberties that we have grown used to and fought over for many years have set themselves up – no doubt paid for out of our taxes to silence our voices and the right for us to express ourselves.

We need Petru to balance out the political situation in Poland before the Polish zloty takes on further damage. Investors are likely to run to neighbouring countries and jobs will be lost – I don’t want that to happen – I have a family and children here.

This is the only man who can save this country from economic ruin – more like him is what we need – He has my full support – I would give up my British Citizenship for him but this is not possible with the new government. Putin must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 12:47 AM CET

iMarek

Fresh blood of Polish politics, well educated manager with strong will to work for his country. All this trolls who call him ‘bankster’ just confirm it. They are afraid of him so he must play important role on public life scene.
‘Errare humanum est’ so if you never made any mistake it means you never done antyhing valuable.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 8:39 AM CET

Boleslaw Chrobry

Petru is a new hope of the political center. The guy has a charisma, talent and guts to do the job. The obstacles are formidable though. PiS after pushing aggressively its agenda through the legislation, ensured its total grip over the government, in next stage PiS is going to pass a lot of populist laws that will win people over and therefore make it difficult for any effective opposition to arise .
Next victims on the list are; freedom of expression and freedom of assembly then constitution then …
The only power that can stop PiS is pressure applied by USA.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 8:53 AM CET

Boleslaw Chrobry

P.S.
By the way, I can see a lot of PiS and Putin’s trolls on this and other threads concerning subject of Poland. Putin’s trolls cheer for PiS in hope to spread confusion and push Poland onto collision course with Euro zone which is very much in Kremlin’s interest.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 9:01 AM CET

y

Yes! Let’s all vote for a politician that has “charisma” and “talent.” – solid arguments, but can I ask “talent” to do what exactly… fool everyone?

Posted on 1/9/16 | 10:49 AM CET

Kubanek

Pawel, everyone knows who finances liberals. His name – George Soros, he stood behind the Maidan in Ukraine and now wants to organise “democratic revolution” in Poland. We won’t fight in the name of international criminals like Soros and other exploiters.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 11:05 AM CET

Kubanek

Boleslaw Chrobry. Do not use the name of our great Polish king please. Chrobry would cut the heads of all people, related to Petru, KOD and PO, since their are pro-German, pro-EU traitors. Poland must become free and independent state, free of EU, Russian and American influence. EU=Russia, I do not differ between euro-bolshevism in Brussels and national-bolshevism in Moscow.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 11:08 AM CET

Andre

Very interesting read. Do your homework before you speak ladies and gentleman. One, Petru did not come out of nowhere, two, he did not make anyone take bad loans (people tend to do that and then blame somebody else – oh wait!! that’s PiS!), three nobody’s Soros’s cronies (you really like all those conspiracy theories, don’t you?), four, get your facts straight. Is it that bad to be open to the world? pro EU? what’s wrong with that? What is your vision? be isolated within your own borders, always suspecting everyone of bad intentions, pissed at everybody, looking for a fight? Is this how modern Poland should be or are we moving backwards toward middle ages? Wake up and smell the coffee! You have already lost, look at polls! PiS is loosing support really fast – wonder why? By dismantling democratic state, that’s why!

Posted on 1/9/16 | 5:10 PM CET

Bart

He is NOT new. He was doing politics in 1999, that is 16/17 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIDX8wIk2XY Get a grip you ‘journalist’ for hire. How much does it costs to have this untruthfully articles published ?

Posted on 1/9/16 | 5:50 PM CET

Jay

@Andre, very strange how just before the last election cycle “polls” showed PO ahead of PiS. Yet, somehow PiS won the presidency and then an outright majority in both houses of parliament. Now, you confidently say that Petru is ahead of PiS in polls? News outlets like TVN or Onet.pl are going out of their way to play the public. Also, Petru is an unknown, just cause he tried his hand in politics a few times does not mean he is an established entity, just like Ruch Palikota party – here today gone tomorrow.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 6:30 PM CET

I_write_how_it_is

Listen to me “Boleslaw Chrobry” I can see that according to you every person who voted for PiS and still supports this party is a “Russian Troll”. In this case about 30% of Polish citizens are Russian agents.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 6:42 PM CET

Jay

@Andre, one more point, before saying how bad things are in Poland (your perspective), please look at Germany, where there was a media black-out regarding crimes committed by refugees so called, and now regular police officers are coming forward saying their superiors and government officials are keeping quiet about how serious the situation is. Today, in Cologne tear gas and water cannons were used to disperse protesters who objected to the government’s immigration policy. Sorry, but maybe the “media” should start to worry about democracy, openness and freedom of speech in Germany!

Posted on 1/9/16 | 6:53 PM CET

Łukasz, PhD

Petru is not charismatic. He is being pumped by the liberal anti-PIS media. I’m afraid of opening my fridge or I will see him there.

Posted on 1/9/16 | 10:34 PM CET

Łukasz

According to mr Petru, The May Coup d’État in Polnad took place in 1935…, in fact it was in 1926
According to mr Petru, in history of Poland Deaf Sejm took place…, in fact it was Mute Sejm
According to mr Petru, in Poland there is Six Kings’ Day Celebration, in fact we celebrate Three Kings’ Day
According to mr Petru Roman Empire fell down sudden, in pick of it greatness, in fact it was after long decay…
Ryszard the Gormless…

Posted on 1/20/16 | 11:59 AM CET

Polllo

Tomas

This guy is not really convincing people in Poland. He is famous by his comic mistakes on interviews. Also, it must be said, he’s staff is not prepared as well. Some may be buying this I truly doubt he has any chance to achieve his goals. From an impartial point of view: this is not (by far) a candidate for president.